This third game in the consolation round features one of the top teams in the Bluegrass State, Great Crossing out of Lexington taking on Westminster Academy out of Fort Lauderdale. Great Crossing features 7’0 UK recruit Malichi Moreno but it wasn’t enough to keep them from suffering a blowout to Miami Columbus in round one. Conversely, Westminster Academy got 41 points from UF signee Alex Lloyd but still fell to La Lumiere out of Indiana by three points.
Great Crossing got on the board first with a free throw from 6’4 senior Gage Richardson. Westminster scored the next two buckets, a putback from 6’9 junior Alex Constanza and a transition basket from 6’4 senior Lloyd. Richardson put back a miss for Great Crossing but 5’10 sophomore Dwight Gaines dropped in a floater for Westminster. Richardson hit a three to tie the score at 6-6, but a drive and score and one of two free throws from Constanza and a transition basket from Gaines made it an 11-6 game with 5:27 to go. Great Crossing fought back, getting to within 14-12, when Westminster exploded with an 11-0 run, with Constanza pumping in eight of those. Westminster was now up 25-12 with 1:36 left in the first. A three from Great Crossing’s 6’1 sophomore L.J. Coleman broke the drought but at the end of the first quarter Westminster was up 27-17.
Westminster scored the first four points of the second period but then Great Crossing got back into the game with an 8-0 run, six of those coming from 6’6 senior Vince Dawson III. Great Crossing as now back within six, 31-25, with just over four minutes to go. The good times didn’t last as Westminster closed out the quarter with a 12-2 run, getting five points each from Lloyd and Constanza, to lead by the score of 43-27 at the break.
Great Crossing started the third quarter with a 6-2 run to get within twelve in the first two minutes. Westminster’s Lloyd responded with two straight buckets and with just over four minutes to go in the third, Westminster had a thirteen-point 49-36 lead. A 7-2 run by Great Crossing highlighted by two buckets from Holman, got them to within eight at 51-43 with just under two minutes to go in the quarter. However, Westminster finished out the period with a 9-2 run, four of those from Constanza, to lead 60-46.
The final period was somewhat anticlimactic as Westminster was able to counter every Great Crossing run, never letting the lead slip below double-digits. Westminster advances in the consolation bracket with an 81-72 victory.
Westminster was led by Lloyd ith 32 points, given him 70+ in his first two tournament games. Constanza was close behind with 31. Gaines added 12 points.
For Great Crossing, Dawson paced them with 20 points and Holman added 15 points. Moreno tallied 13 points and 14 rebounds.